Summary

Pro Tour Ixalan is only a day away! As the format has been shaping up over the last several weeks, Temur decks have risen to the top, with many players branching out into a fourth color to try to get a grindy edge in the mirror match. One such way of doing this is through planeswalkers, which the deck we’re featuring today focuses on.

Like all Energy decks, this deck leans heavily on Rogue Refiner and Whirler Virtuoso. Refiner replaces itself every time it lands, attacks and blocks well, and adds energy, making it worth the price of admission almost every time. Whirler Virtuoso is arguably the best energy sink in this format, as the 1/1 flyers line up particularly well in this format and have the ability to singlehandedly take over a game if given enough time and energy. Attune with Aether is the card that makes this all possible, ensuring land drops while mana fixing and adding valuable energy.

This deck aims to gain an edge in the midrange mirror by using valuable card advantage-focused planeswalkers. Chandra, Torch of Defiance has proven itself as the best planeswalker in the format, as it ramps, draws extra cards every turns, kills creatures, and threatens a game-ending ultimate. Nissa, Vital Force is more concerned with controlling the board, but when left alone can take over a game. The same can certainly be said about both Vraska, Relic Seeker and Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh. Both of these planeswalkers can take over a board state if given enough time, but they both also offer good card advantage when sitting on the board, as Vraska destroys non-creature permanents and Nicol Bolas strips cards from the opponent’s hand.

In order to facilitate this high converted mana cost and color-intensive deck, this deck plays Spring // Mind and Bounty of the Luxa, two cards that have always seemed to be on the fringes of Standard. Spring // Mind occupies an already crowded mana slot, but the ability of it to mana ramp and mana fix, as well as draw cards in the late game, makes it a must include for this deck. Bounty of the Luxa does two things (although not at the same time) that this deck wants: add mana and draw cards. While it doesn’t do anything when it comes down, it sets this deck up very well to play the late game.